These Children Who Come at You with Knives, and Other Fairy Tales: Stories

by Jim Knipfel

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From the irresistibly droll mind of Jim Knipfel comes These Children Who Come at You with Knives, and Other Fairy Tales, a series of twisted fables that echo with pinpoint acuity. A masterful storyteller whose memoirs and novels have earned him widespread acclaim, this is Knipfel's first foray into the short story, and he delivers in spades: this wickedly dark satire on the notion of happily ever after turns the traditional fairy tale on its head. Among the array of lonely losers wallowing in discontent, the enterprising reader of this volume may meet a talking chicken who learns the world has little patience for intelligence, a foul-mouthed gnome set on world domination, and a magical snowman wrestling with the horror of being alive. In These Children Who Come at You with Knives, Knipfel's singular and brilliantly funny mind reinvents the bedtime story and offers up a wildly entertaining meditation on the perils of human nature.… (more)

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The last two sentences of the book are really impactful. The rest is misanthropic drivel. (

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steampink | Jan 10, 2023 |

Super quick read. Often disgusting/disturbing (stories about maggots, roaches and bodily fluids). Yet somehow it was a compelling, humorous read. I typically hate short stories, and struggle to get through an entire book of them, but I was quite entertained through the whole book. (

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curious_squid | Apr 5, 2021 |

And it all sounded so promising... retellings of fairy tales with a twist. What's not to like?
The first one was okay. The second was eh. The third wasn't much better.

The best part of the book? The preface.
When the thing goes downhill after the part that most people skip, then you know you've got a winner. Chalk it up as another wasted book for me. (

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imahorcrux | Jun 22, 2016 |

Fairy tales for adults in which bad things happen and everything from yard gnomes to snowmen talk and cuss. Very lighthearted book. I tried to find a moral to the stories but eventually learned they're just for entertainment. I could find no higher meaning behind any of these enjoyable stories. (

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jules72653 | Dec 17, 2012 |

Relentlessly, spectacularly vulgar, Knipfel's fairy tales harken back to a bawdier oral tradition and are filled with crude, scatalogical humor and characters either hopelessly inept or completely reprehensible. While the tales are initially charming (and perhaps a bit nauseating), there isn't enough variety in tone or atmosphere to keep the reader's momentum going through the entire collection. My personal breaking point came along about the same time as the tale of invisible elves strewing mucus, urine, and fecal matter down a suburban street. (

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Fainting_Project | Sep 29, 2010 |

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Epigraph

Yes, there is a hell my boy, and you don't have to dig for it.

—Jim Thompson, Savage Night

Dedication

For my nieces, Jordan and McKenzie Adrians.
Despite all my best efforts they turned out pretty damn good.

First words

In the beginning was the Void.

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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

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From the irresistibly droll mind of Jim Knipfel comes These Children Who Come at You with Knives, and Other Fairy Tales, a series of twisted fables that echo with pinpoint acuity. A masterful storyteller whose memoirs and novels have earned him widespread acclaim, this is Knipfel's first foray into the short story, and he delivers in spades: this wickedly dark satire on the notion of happily ever after turns the traditional fairy tale on its head. Among the array of lonely losers wallowing in discontent, the enterprising reader of this volume may meet a talking chicken who learns the world has little patience for intelligence, a foul-mouthed gnome set on world domination, and a magical snowman wrestling with the horror of being alive. In These Children Who Come at You with Knives, Knipfel's singular and brilliantly funny mind reinvents the bedtime story and offers up a wildly entertaining meditation on the perils of human nature.

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